agotavsaguaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: agota is a verb, agua is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“agota” is a verb and “agua” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,886
“agota” frequency rank
#253
“agua” frequency rank
22139
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agota agua
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de agotar. Sustancia transparente, inodora e insípida, que se encuentra en estado líquido a temperatura y presión estándar, y cuya composición molecular es de dos átomos de hidrógeno por uno de oxígeno.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set agota and agua apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
agota
4 ch
agua

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: agota is [aˈɣ̞ot̪a] while agua is [ˈaɣ̞wa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agota is recorded at frequency rank #21,886, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈɣ̞ot̪a]. agua is at rank #253, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɣ̞wa].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 22139, this pair ranks #251,735 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of agota vs agua

Shared letters: ag. Private to "agota": ot. Private to "agua": u.

"agota" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "agua" · 4 letters · shape VCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • agotaaggota · agoat · agotta · agtoa · aogta · gaota
  • aguaagau · aggua · auga · gaua

Frequency comparison

agota#21,886
agua#253

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "agota" and "agua" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "agota" is a verb and "agua" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "agota" or "agua"?
"agua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #253 in our Spanish list, against #21,886 for "agota". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering agota vs agua

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “agota”; for a noun, it's “agua”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “agota” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list